Martha Speaks

Kyrstin enjoys a PBS cartoon called "Martha Speaks."  The premise is so utterly simple, you wonder that it even got to TV.  Martha, a dog (who looks like a golden retriever) ate some alphabet soup one day, and instead of it going to her stomach, it went to her head, and she started talking.  And talking.  And talking!  She speaks mostly in monologues, and while she is very articulate on a variety of matters, she often uses her voice to request her dinner.  "Steak!  Steak!"

When I feel like I've been sending my husband so many text messages without a reply that it becomes a monologue, I'll text "Steak! Steak!" He understands.

Speaking of amazing transformations, I have mentioned in prior posts that I'm slowly making may way through Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World,  by Joanna Weaver.  I was particularly encouraged by what Weaver describes as Martha's teachability (Martha from the Bible story, not the talking dog, of course).  Sure, when we first see her she is the harried, task-oriented older sister who derided the younger sister's preference to sit at Jesus' feet and learn.  But she learned, too.  When Jesus came back after her brother Lazarus died, he addressed her.  "I am the resurrection in the life... Do you believe this?" And she replied, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who was to come into the world." Weaver notes that "scholars call this declaration one of the most incredible statements of faith in Scripture, for it cuts to the very essence of who Jesus was and is" (143).  Then she fetched her sister to come see Jesus.

As Weaver describes it,  "The anxious, demanding Queen of Everything is gone" (144).  Yet, what encouraged me most was that she was still Martha.  While she was being herself, God changed her heart.  It blessed me.  There are bitter, anxious words of Martha's in the Bible, but there are also these words full of faith and an act of encouragement.  It is an encouragement to me to see this transformation.